Garden to plate program is teaching kids important life skills

Anne Kelly has run Telarah Public School's Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program since it started and she's still passionate about the importance of teaching kids life skills through food.

More than 500 students have participated in the impressive program since it began and Ms Kelly said it was still an important part of the school curriculum.

"The value of the program is not measured formally but anecdotally we know it's huge, it's teaching kids life skills," she said.

"Everyone is so pressed for money, spending time to do these things with kids is important but parents don't always have the time, and it's often cheaper to buy processed food than fresh ingredients."

Ms Kelly will raise awareness about the program during a talk at the Teapot Cafe at Maitland Showgrounds on June 18 at 4.30pm.

"The big picture is that we want our kids to engage with the environment, we need to grow food from the earth and we need to look after our climate if we are going to keep feeding ourselves," she said.

"The feedback from the families has been amazing. Kids who didn't eat certain things now do, kids have invited other kids over to their house and fed them a meal they made.

"Some of our kids couldn't even use a tea towel in the beginning. It's amazing the basic skills that we teach them."

The program allows students in years 3, 4 and 5 a two-hour session in the garden and the kitchen once a fortnight.

Year 6 students also take part once a term.

Students learn how to plant vegetables, care for them through weeding, watering and making compost, and they also learn how to harvest what they need.

In the kitchen the students learn how to wash and prepare ingredients and follow different recipes.

"We do five different meals and after a fortnight we change the menu, so that's 16 different menus per year," Ms Kelly said.

Dinner will be served at 6.30pm, after the talk. The cost to dine is a $10 donation to the kitchen garden program.